Mt. SAC Day 2: Hasay, Dunbar, Saugus, Dana Hills in Sweepstakes+Day 1 recap, results posted

Oct 23, 2008

Hasay, Dunbar race to wins at Mt. SAC. Saugus and Dana Hills claim team crowns.

Mission Prep wunderkind Jordan Hasay posted the second fastest time ever at Mt. SAC, a 16:27, en route to winning the Girls' Individual Sweepstakes Race. San Clemete junior Alex Dunne (16:48) and Rancho Bernardo sophomore Molly Grabill (16:54) rode Hasay's heels to impressive sub-17 clockings as well. Amber Trotter set the course record of 16:16 in 2001.

Hasay took the lead before the group took the first corner into the valley loop and crossed the mile mark in 5:09. The second group of girls, led by Arizona's Xavier Prep, junior Jessica Tonn, Dunne, Grabill and Casa Grande junior Jacque Taylor crossed the mile mark in 5:14. Dunne moved into second at the switchbacks with Tonn in third followed by Grabill and Taylor. Dunne pressed the pace and moved to within 4 seconds of Hasay at the two mile mark, but Hasay pushed forward for her fourth straight Mt. Sac win.

Trevor Dunbar (Sr., Kodiak) reaffirmed his stauts as the top runner in the West right now with his performance. Dunbar, who set course records at the Alaska State finals and the adidas Classic in Oregon, eased away from Chris Schwartz (14:46) and Zack Torres (14:50) to win in the Boys' Individual Sweeps race in 14:41 for the 3.0-mile course.

Dunbar (Pictured left in photo by Margot Kelly) and Schwartz from Foothills High traded the lead a few times. Emmanuel Ngula (Sr, Vista Del Lago) was in front at the half mile mark with Schwartz in second followed by Dunbar. Schwartz fell to fourth place at the mile mark but surged to the front at the top of the switchbacks. Dunbar took the lead before entering the airstrip with Schwartz right on his heals followed by Ngula (15:00) and Torres (Sr, Crescenta Valley). Dunbar increased his lead throughout the rest of the race.

Elias Gedyon (So., Loyola), running in a separate race, posted a class record 14:48, the third fastest time of the day. Gedyon's Loyola (159) team could only manage a fifth-place finish, however, in the Boys' Team Sweepstakes behind team champion Dana Hills (91), Thousand Oaks (128), Buchanan (130) and Arcadia (145).

In the Girls' Team Sweepstakes Race, Saugus continued to prove it is the best in California, if not in the nation, dominating with a record team time and only 24 points to easily defeat runner-up Dana Hills (68) and Torrey Pines (100). Sophomore Kaylin Mahoney led the Saugus assault, winning in 17:13 as Saugus claimed four of the top six positions.

On the basis of depth alone, Saugus has a good chance of moving to MileSplit US #1 when the polls are released Tuesday. Not only did the Saugus girls dominate the Team Sweepstakes, but it owned the JV National Championships as well, grabbing the top five spots for a perfect score of 15

Pictured: Kaylin Mahoney, placing first in the Team Sweepstakes, leading Saugus to a first place victory.

Margot Kelly, calrunners.com, a MileSplit.us affiliate, contributed to this report. All photos by Margot Kelly.

Mount SAC Invitational

Meet Results

Photos Day 1

Photos Day 2

Day 1 Recap

By Margot Kelly (calrunners.com, a milesplit.us affiliate)

Celebrating it's 61st year, the Mt. Sac Cross Country Invitational has come a long way since it's start in 1948 with ten schools (only boys) participating on the 1.2 mile course. In 1965 a new 3 mile more spectator friendly course was redesigned with added hills (Poop-Out) and some "switchbacks" but it wasn't until the 1970's when girls and women started running in the event. Each year the Mt. Sac Invitational has grown in size and in the number of races needed to accommodate all the runners. This event this weekend is host to 570 teams and 20,000 athletes not including the 5,800 Junior College runners last weekend or the Middle and Junior High runners this weekend.

You might be asking yourself how an event this large can move that many runners through the 3.0 mile course in two days? It is like watching a symphony.....everything perfectly timed. Every seven minutes a new race starts on the airstrip, after a previous race crosses the airstrip,

while another race is heading up the switchbacks and another is running on the airstrip in the opposite direction toward the finish. It is well timed and fun to watch as four young men stand in the middle of the cross section of four races making sure they don't all meet in the middle at the same time! Orchestrating such precision also makes for timely starts and each race started at exactly the time they were suppose to.

Divisions three, four and five made up forty four races today with the Girls Division 3 Sweepstates starting at race 37. Freshman Rebecca Mehra from Palos Verdes come down from "Poop-Out Hill" with a substantial lead and the crowd cheering her on to help push her to a sub 18 minute time. She did not break 18 minutes but her 18:06 time gave her the third fastest time of the day behind Senior Michelle Johnson of West Valley (17:00), who raced in the Division 4 and 5 Girls Varsity race and junior Jennifer Bergman (18:01) from Valley Christian who raced in the Division 3 Girl's Varsity Race. Foothills (sa) (pictured above) won the team event with 102 points, Cathedral (sd) came in second with 106 and St. Lucy's was third with 115.

Senior Isaac Chavez (15:17) won the Division 3 Sweepstake event for the boys leading his team (pictured above) to a first place finish (102 points) over Foothills (sa) (108) and Palos Verdes (119). Daniel Rosales, (Jr, Apple Valley) cruised in for a second place finish (15:23).

La Reina girls (pictured left) took the team title in the Division 4 Sweepstatkes with 66 points over second place Mayfield (82 Points). Sabrina Lopez (Sr, Sacred Heart of Jesus) won the individual title in 18:17, ten seconds faster than second place finisher junior Sammantha Hamilton from Half Moon Bay.

On the boys side for Division 4, Austin Williams, a senior from La Salle won the boys individual event in 15:30 with senior Zach Oliver from Ontario Christian coming in second in 15:36. McFarland High School won the team event, with an impressive score of 34 points, by placing their top five runners in the top ten and all seven runners in the top seventeen. Big Bear come in second with 59 points.

The final Sweepstakes races were Division 5 and Woodcrest Christian won both the boys and the girls team events. The boys won the even with 47 points over Hopi (55) while the girls won the event with 26 by placing five runners in the top ten. Hopi girls came in second with 73 points.

Woodcrest Christian boys place three in the top three with senior Jake Jeanson (pictured left) having the fastest time of the day and winning the race in 15:16. Teammates Myles Scarano (So, 15:35) and Jesse Brooks (Jr, 15:46) came in second and third.

Senior Cait Williamson from Sage Hill won the individual event for the girls in 19:05.

Saturday: Divisions 1 & 2 race.

Photos by Margot Kelly (calrunners.com, a milesplit.us affiliate)